


Kagerou

by yunhaiiro



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Based on a Vocaloid Song, M/M, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-03-23 14:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3772456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yunhaiiro/pseuds/yunhaiiro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Based on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E57LEjf6pw">Heat-Haze Daze</a> (or Heat-Haze Days or whatever you want to call it.)</p>
    </blockquote>





	Kagerou

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [Heat-Haze Daze](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E57LEjf6pw) (or Heat-Haze Days or whatever you want to call it.)

It's a scorching summer day. The forest feels alive with the almost deafening sound of an insect's mating call, the tweetings of birds, the soft crunch of leaves when an animal steps on them.

By contrast, Kwerkus' barefooted walk is silent. His clothes' rustling could be mistaken for wind blowing through the trees, if there were any.

Tamlen, a just as silent figure at his side, sighs.

"I hate this season," he mutters.

Kwerkus raises his head and looks at him sideways.

"You love summer."

"Not these days. Everything is so... noisy."

"You're just cranky because you didn't sleep much last night."

Tamlen smirks.

"Yeah, I wonder whose fault that is."

Kwerkus smirks back and focuses on the ground again. The tracks are getting closer.

Suddenly, they hear running a few ways back, in their direction. Both of them hold their bow and nock an arrow. Tamlen signals that he's going on ahead, and Kwerkus lets him.

They're _shemlen_. Scared, Elgar'nan knows what about, and even more scared once Kwerkus joins Tamlen and they have another arrow pointing at them.

They talk about a cave with strange ruins. And treasure. They show them a stone with Elvish carvings they found at the entrance. And talk about a demon scaring them off. They offer to tell them its location as long as the elves let them leave unharmed.

Kwerkus arches an eyebrow and one blurts out where the cave is all the same.

Even then, they allow them to run along in the opposite direction.

"Think it's worth checking out, _lethallin_?"

Kwerkus is already marching ahead.

"For Elven artifacts? Of course."

"We should tell the Keeper first, though..."

"But what if they were lying? Better check than end up looking like gullible fools."

Tamlen shrugs.

"Lead the way, then."

 

* * *

 

"We should go back."

Kwerkus aims and takes a shot before the nearest corpse can rise completely.

Tamlen is kneeling at his side, deactivating a trap. At Kwerkus' complete disregard to his comment, he nudges his leg with his elbow.

"You heard me."

"Yes, I did, but I'm also trying to keep the undead from reaching us."

"We could run the way back. Tell the Keeper and come back with the rest of the hunters."

Kwerkus snorts irritatedly.

"We've made it so far, we might as well know what's at the end."

Tamlen makes a face, but drops the issue. The trap makes a faint clicking sound and turns off.

 

* * *

 

Turns out that, at the end, there is a mirror.

A mirror that's not reflecting anything. Something lurks beneath the surface. Something murky.

Tamlen is taking careful footsteps towards it, Kwerkus a few paces behind.

Kwerkus notices a faint, indeterminate sound and looks around, trying to pinpoint its location.

Meanwhile, Tamlen has reached the mirror and is staring at it with an indecipherable expression.

Kwerkus turns around just in time to see him touch the surface.

The mirror explodes.

Only not, because it's still standing there, the murkiness swirling around faster.

Not like he can see it, because he's been knocked to the ground. Kwerkus gets up, disoriented, and sees Tamlen lying on his side just in front of the mirror.

He runs at his side but recoils when he gets near enough to see the blood.

He can't see any wound, but it's everywhere.

Kwerkus kneels down and turns him over, holding his head. It rolls on his neck, a dead weight. More blood on his face, coming from his mouth. The blood is soaking through his clothes and Kwerkus' hands.

The mirror flashes overhead.

He lifts his head, still in shock, and sees their reflection.

But his isn't right.

In the mirror, he's standing, and there's a weird red glow around him, and he's... smirking. Like he knows something the real Kwerkus doesn't.

The figure in the mirror opens his mouth to speak:

"This isn't a lie."

The sound increases in volume. It sounds like an insect's mating call.

Kwerkus blacks out.

 

* * *

 

Kwerkus wakes up in a sweat.

He looks at his side, and Tamlen's looking at him with a concerned expression.

"Bad dream?"

Kwerkus blinks and stares at him and raises a hand to touch his cheek. He's shaking.

Tamlen takes his hand and looks even more worried.

"That bad?"

He's there. He's real. It must have been a dream.

"No, I'm... I'm fine. It's nothing."

 

* * *

 

It's a scorching summer day. The forest feels alive with the almost deafening sound of an insect's mating call.

Tamlen walks at his side and mutters: "I hate this season."

Kwerkus says nothing.

They bump into a group of _shemlen_. They talk of a cave, ruins, treasure and demons.

"Think it's worth checking out, _lethallin_?"

He goes along even if there's an uneasy feeling in his stomach. It was just a dream.

Arrow after arrow, the corpses fall down and they keep going.

But when they reach the door that he knows ( _knows_ ) leads to the room with the mirror, Kwerkus has had enough.

"Let's head back now and tell the Keeper about all this."

"Really? But it looks like we're almost at the end of-"

"Please."

Tamlen is stunned for a second, but then gives a sly smile.

"All the undead creeping you off, _lethallin_?"

"You could say that."

"Fine then." He turns and takes off back to the corridor. "Don't say I never listen to you."

They've hardly walked a few paces when Kwerkus hears a _click_.

A metal pole falls from the ceiling and runs cleanly through Tamlen.

He slumps down almost silently.

Kwerkus might have shouted, but he doesn't know.

He kneels down (blood, so much blood, soaking through everything) and holds Tamlen, tries to see if the damage could be healed in any way. Tamlen's hand is on his shoulder, clamping down so hard his knuckles are white.

He notices a flash and looks up to see the figure of the mirror, now in the middle of the corridor and still glowing red. Still smirking.

"This isn't a dream."

He looks back down, trying to get Tamlen to look at him.

He has his eyes closed and seems to be smiling faintly.

The deafening sound is back.

Kwerkus blacks out.

 

* * *

 

Kwerkus wakes up in a sweat.

Tamlen, at his side, is looking at him with a concerned expression.

"Bad dream?"

He says nothing.

 

* * *

 

They make it out of the ruins only to fall into the humans’ ambush.

Tamlen  gets in front of him and gets an arrow to the throat.

 

* * *

 

Tamlen falls off a slope in the forest and opens his head against a rock.

 

* * *

 

Tamlen…

Tamlen dies.

 

* * *

 

It's been too long.

He can't save Tamlen. He's tried everything. Nothing works and he feels like he has the weight of ten more years on his shoulders. He can see his own mocking face everywhere.

 

Here he is, standing once more on the cave while Tamlen is just about to touch that mirror.

He makes a decision.

He yanks Tamlen back by the collar, pulls him aside and safely out of the way, not hearing his protests.

He touches the mirror.

The mirror explodes.

Only not, because it's still standing there.

He can't see much, because he's closed his eyes, but when he opens them the reflection in the mirror has a horrified expression and tears in his eyes.

_Serves you right_.

Kwerkus feels Tamlen kneel down by his side, hears garbled words. His blood is soaking through his clothes and Tamlen's hands.

At least this is the end.

There's a blue flash above him, in the mirror, but he's already closed his eyes again.

 

* * *

 

Tamlen wakes up in a sweat.

He look at his side and Kwerkus is still sleeping, curled into a ball.

Tamlen buries his face into his hands.

"I failed this time, too..."

 

* * *

 

Bonus:


End file.
